The Secret
by rumyas
Summary: The four sliders land on a world where the Professor is mistaken for his missing double. They uncover a secret which someone would do anything to hide.(Please read and review. All comments are welcome, this is my first Sliders fanfic)
1. The Secret: Part I and II

**The Secret**

**PART I:**

In a dark street, a swirling whirlpool of lights appeared, a gateway between dimensions. A fierce wind blew some old newspapers lying on the road. Suddenly a loud yell could be heard, and a rather large man landed with a loud thump squarely on his rear. Before he could gather himself, another loud voice came through and a black man fell on the 1st man. They both knew what was coming next and in a surprisingly swift movement, both rolled away in a tangle of limbs to one side. The next arrival was a young woman, who somehow managed to hit the ground and tumble away to the other side without hurting herself and still retained her balance. Barely. Last came a young man, who landed with a smack on the ground, face down. Meanwhile, the men who had appeared first were engaged in a struggle to free themselves. The older man said in an annoyed voice, "I do wish you would go ahead of me once, Mr. Brown. It would be interesting to see your reaction to having someone falling and knocking the breath out of you. I am tired of being your landing cushion!" "Now come on, Professor, I am definitely lighter than you and me falling on you will not result in 'Crying' man squash' so quit complaining all the time. Maybe you should just come last, then no one will be there after you to land on you."

"Hey! No way Remmy! You want the rest of us to get creamed?" said the girl, Wade. She was dusting herself off and couldn't help putting in her two cents worth when she overheard the familiar bickering between the two. She then turned to the dazed young man sitting on the ground rubbing his forehead to help him up. "Maybe it would be a good idea for the Professor to go before me, he might be a good cushion for me," he said with a faint smile. "You OK Q-Ball?" the black man asked in concern, the first one to notice the small cut on his forehead. The young man, Quinn swayed on his feet for a moment when he stood up and rubbed his forehead. "I'm fine. Just a bump." He looked at a device in his hand. "I really hope this is a pleasant place to stay 'cause we have almost two days here. We could use a break." "Well, I sure hope the food is good here, because I'm starving!" They all smiled at Rembrandt's statement.

They moved out of the street and into the main road cautiously. Thankfully no one seemed to have noticed their arrival. They were rejoicing that they had not yet been carted of to prison or arrested or even mistaken for terrorists, as they had been in the last world, when a shrill noise disturbed them. A boy on a bicycle was riding towards them and the way he was ringing the bell on the handle and waving his arms indicated that he wasn't exactly able to control his bicycle on the sloping road. The others moved out of the way in time but Quinn just stood there without realising what was happening, at least till the cyclist ploughed into him and knocked him down. They landed as a heap on the ground. The boy quickly got up and lifted his vehicle off Quinn. He held out his hand which Quinn stared at for a few seconds before comprehending that the boy was trying to help him up. The others clustered around him, their faces creased in worry. "I'm fine guys, no damage done." He said in an attempt at cheer.

A man walking a little behind them had seen the whole thing and came forward to assist. He would have asked if anyone was hurt but his eyes fell on something that had fallen from the young man's coat. He picked it up and stared at it in stunned disbelief. He quickly took out his cell phone and made a call.

Quinn had brushed off the boy's apologies and had waved him off on his bicycle before he noticed something. "The timer, where is it?" he asked in shock. "I think I dropped it!" Then he noticed the man who was examining it. "Hey, that's mine!" The man just looked at him with a peculiar expression on his face. The Professor stepped up and said in his most courteous voice. "I think what my friend here wants to say is that object which you are holding, sir, is his. Kindly excuse him if he has been rude. So if you could give it back …" he reached out to take the timer, but the man swiftly thrust it into his pocket. Remmy burst out, "Man, you'd better hand it over or else…" He never got to finish the sentence. A large car drew up beside them at that instant and a couple of burly men wearing black outfits got out. They looked from the group of sliders to the man facing them. He inclined his head towards them and they immediately walked around the car, each grabbed the arms of two of the sliders and shoved them unceremoniously into the car. One of the hoods got into the back and the other at the wheel. The man who was obviously their boss got into the passenger seat and they took off. The Professor was the first one to recover. But he had only just opened his mouth to speak when the man in the back clamped his hand over the Professor's mouth. He didn't say a word, but his manner and the glare he shot everyone stuffed into the back of the car made sure they got the message.

**PART II:**

The windows of the car were heavily tinted and there was a partition between the front and the rear of the car. Wade was the one with her nose pressed to the window, not because she wanted it to be but because there was absolutely no place in the car, what with the four sliders as well as one of the fellows in black in the backseat! She was anxious about what was going to happen to them, but had enough sense to try to peer out of the window to see where they were going. Not that she could see much, but anything was better than sitting silently with that guy staring at them. There were not many high rises that she could see. In fact there were mostly sprawling low buildings everywhere. But the streets seemed to be quite normal, with kids playing on lawns and washing hanging out in a few of the houses. Suddenly, the whole surroundings changed. As much as she tried, Wade couldn't make out anything except long stretches of flat land with some building or something at a distance. Then came a high wall which seemed to stretch forever. It had large coils of barbed wire and glass bits on the top as well as sign at intervals which looked like it said "Warning. Electrified Fence." The car stopped all of a sudden and the man in front took out something which a guard, who appeared out of nowhere, took and inserted into a device in his hand. None of them in the back could make out what the 'something' was due to the frosted glass partition. They could see that the men in front were saying something, but it seemed that the glass was sound proof. For some reason, the man in the back with them got out. As soon as he shut the door, the group took a huge collective breath. "I thought my nose was going to become permanently flattened, the way it was pressed against the window!" Wade said with a nervous laugh. "What do these guys want?" The Professor decided their strategy. "We had better go along with whatever they say, at least for now, because we need to find a way to get the timer back. Then we shall see what to do to get out of here; security looks very tight."

The others just nodded their heads.

The car started moving as suddenly and silently as it had stopped, but this time they were left alone in the back. After a few minutes, the car stopped once more and they were escorted out by two other men, who held guns. They were marched into a pristine, white room having a single door and no windows. There were 2 plastic chairs in the room, again in white. Without a word, the two men walked out and closed the door and the unmistakable sound of a lock clicking followed them. Quinn was the first to speak. "I wonder what we are supposed to have done to deserve this kind of treatment. At least we have almost forty-eight hours here to figure out what's going on and to find the timer.


	2. The Secret: Part III and IV

**The Secret**

**PART III:**

Rajesh Prasad looked at the screen in front of him. He could see the four people they had picked up were agitated. The girl and the older man were sitting and fidgeting with their clothes while the other two paced across the length of the room. They didn't speak much. It was as if they knew there were hidden cameras in the room. He still couldn't believe what had happened. "And how the hell did these people get their hands on this?" he demanded of his assistant, indicating the timer. The man shook in fear; no one had ever seen Dr. Rajesh in such a state! "I…I don't know….sir", he stammered. "I will find that out at once sir, we can interrogate them…" "'WE' are doing nothing! I shall question them myself; you think I would leave that task in you hands? If you do, then I must say Higgins, you are crazy!" saying this, the doctor marched off in anger. He couldn't wait anymore for his partner to come.

Ian Campbell rushed into his home to the secret entrance of their lab. His partner and good friend, Rajesh was waiting for him. He didn't understand why Rajesh wanted him there in such a hurry, but it must be important, or he wouldn't have called, not at this time. In a way it was better if he got back to work, he wouldn't have time to dwell upon the death of his beloved aunt just a week ago, or the disappearance of his uncle either. He entered his password into the terminal hidden under a book on a shelf in the room and placed his palm on the blue monitor for identification. As soon as it was processed, the bookshelf slid back to reveal a long, white and spotless corridor. He pressed one more button once he was inside and a small, car-like, sleek, silver vehicle called the 'Bullet' appeared instantly at his side. Just before he got into it, he pulled down a lever which closed the opening behind him and sealed it. He squeezed his slightly plump bulk into the vehicle; making a note to himself to get a new, larger 'Bullet' for his travel, and its glass roof slid noiselessly over his head and it sped off into the corridor, just a silver blur.

Ian got out and hurried towards his colleague's office. But he had barely taken two steps when the man he was in search of himself came barging around the corner and slammed into him. "Hey man, steady!"

"Where the hell have you been? The next time you decide to take a vacation or break, please do tell us where, got it?" was the reply from Rajesh.

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a vacation now would it? Anyway I got here within thirty minutes of your call, didn't I? Considering the fact that I was almost halfway across the world when I got your message, it was pretty fast!"

"You know that we can cover ground much faster if the new 'Bullet' is approved. But I'm veering off topic here. " Then a guilty expression came over Rajesh's face. "Look I didn't mean to be rude, I understand what you've been going through, with your uncle Max and the date today and all, really I do. But it's just that this is really urgent. I don't know how to tell you this…we found four people; they had somehow stolen your uncle's device. We're still investigating how they managed to get past security at the storage unit to get their hands on it. And one more thing, one of the men… he... I think…he looks a bit like your uncle, from the photos that I've seen. But I've never actually seen him so…" Saying this Rajesh led Ian to his office where he pointed out to the screen showing the four captive sliders.

Ian looked questioningly at Rajesh to see if he was joking, but his friend's expression was perfectly serious. He then looked at the screen. He was so shocked by what he saw that he didn't even hear what his friend was saying. "I saw these four on the road, and they had it with them, just like the one your uncle created, an inter-dimensional travelling device. It's in the lab waiting for you…..it seems modified somehow…."

Quinn and Rembrandt paced across the floor, till Wade finally had enough. "Stop it, both of you! Your pacing is driving me crazy! If we're trapped here, then we wait till those goons come and tell us why they got us here! OK?" The other three in the room stared at her in shock. They had never heard her talk like this. They realised that after the difficult time they had had on the last world, she was very much on edge. But before they could say anything the door swung open and two men walked in. One of them was the man who they had 'met' earlier. The other man stopped in his tracks as soon as he entered. With a shocked sound, he practically ran to Professor Arturo and hugged him saying, "Oh my god! It really is you! You're alive!"

**PART IV:**

Ian couldn't believe his ears! "But how can you not be him? I'm sure that you just lost your memory or something! The travelling device, it must have not been perfected; after all it was still in testing stage. It must have messed up your mind, made you forget….." his voice trailed off as he saw his uncle, no, someone like his uncle, shaking his head. It slowly sunk in that what he was saying was true. why would they lie? "You can ask Mr. Mallory here, he invented the machine. I'm sorry, but I'm not your uncle. I'm a double of his, from a parallel world." Quinn and the Professor took turns explaining to Ian and the other fellow, Rajesh how Quinn had discovered sliding and how they were lost and trying to find their way home. After they had finished, Ian told them his story.

"My uncle was Professor Maximillian Arturo. He was a genius, always inventing stuff. He was a physics professor once upon a time, but there were so many other things he knew. Six months ago, he discovered this thing, which proved his theory, about the Einstein-Rosen Bridge. Very secretive, wouldn't tell anyone what he was working on, didn't even tell me till towards the end. All he told me was that he was working on something big, that's it, very sketchy, no details. Then a week after he told me, he went into his lab….and didn't come out.

We broke in and found all his equipment, and his records. He was a very methodical man, kept record of all his work and observations." Here Ian stopped to take a breath. Stammering a little he said, "He…he was like a father to me…my mentor, everything…. Today is actually exactly six months to the day he…disappeared. I've always thought that he was successful in his experiments, that he used his machine to cross over to parallel worlds. Always have had hope that he would be back one day. No one believed me, said he must have killed himself with that machine or…or something. I continued his research and two months later, I met Professor Rajesh here who was in the same line of work, and we set up our lab. We now work together for the government. We were able to accomplish many things, except this. Things always went wrong with it. According to my uncle's notes and records, it should be working. But it doesn't. Maybe we didn't try hard enough…. I guess there was always the fear that we could disappear, like my uncle."

The entire room was silent, as everyone absorbed what they had just heard. In an attempt at cheer, Professor Rajesh said, "At least we know that your uncle isn't dead, he is probably out there, travelling though worlds, and we just have to wait till he comes home."

Wade noticed some movement out of the corner of her eye which distracted her for a moment. But the minute she turned around, there was no one there.

John Higgins ran as silently as he could back to his cubicle. That was close. The girl had almost seen him. Almost, but not quite. No one could know that he knew what was going on, or his cover would be blown. He had to pretend that he was the ignoramus they all thought he was. He had heard all that he needed to. It had been a shock to see Max, but now he knew the truth. He had always known that Max would have succeeded, these 'travellers' just proved all his theories. But he, Higgins, just couldn't let them reveal the secret of inter-dimensional travel to Ian or Rajesh. Higgins's anger grew as he thought about Rajesh. How he hated that man! It just infuriated him that an Indian, a coloured fellow could be his boss. He would show them, Oh yes he would! "Then we'll see who's the boss here!" he smirked in glee.


	3. The Secret: Part V

**The Secret**

**PART V:**

The four sliders were being given the grand tour of the place. They were amazed at the tight security everywhere. They had been given back their timer; their story confirmed when the timer that the Arturo of this world had invented was found to be still safely locked up in the storage unit. Ian and Rajesh led the group down to a room, pristine, immaculate and painted white. They were going to visit the actual lab where the Arturo of this world had performed his experiments and after that Quinn would try to help them fix the machine. They wanted to search for his uncle, hoping that he was till alive and on the last world the machine had transported him to, before it broke down. Ian pressed a small button in one corner of the room twice and a few 'Bullets' appeared within an instant. He quickly explained that it was an underground method of travel, the fastest on land, which they had invented. Everyone was strapped in and ready to go when a small figure came running into the room, shouting, "Wait, Wait!" Rajesh exclaimed in impatience, "Higgins, the next time you are late, you're going to be fired, get that!" He quickly introduced the sliders to Higgins and with a little bit of shuffling, was able to fit him in too. Ian said with a smile, "We actually have 'Bullets' meant only for one person, usually these," he indicated the ones they were seated in "are for transporting large groups of people or machinery!" Within minutes they were at their destination. It seemed that they had spent more time in settling into the 'Bullets' than travelling in them.

The Professor chuckled when they stepped out of the white corridor into room which looked like a library. "Ah! The secret room, or in this case, secret corridor behind the book case. Rather out-of-date don't you think?" "Actually no," replied Ian. "This was my uncle's favourite room, and he once told me, if you want to hide something, hide it somewhere so obvious that no one would think to search there. I don't think anyone except huge fans of old mystery books would think to search here!" He then led them out to the basement where his uncle's lab was. As they went behind him, they noticed in surprise a few framed certificates, the most eye-catching was one which said,

THE GOVERNMENT THANKS PROF. MAXIMILLIAN ARTURO FOR THE INVENTION OF COLD FUSION.

Another thanked him for discovering The Worldwide Web. Yet another commended him on his theory of Antimatter. It seemed that quite a lot of things had been discovered by the late Maximillian Arturo. Ian had not been kidding when he said his uncle had been a genius. Quinn looked at his professor and smiled.

Wade was trailing behind the others. She didn't like the fellow named Higgins. But she didn't want to say anything. If she voiced her doubts to any of the other three members of her group, they would probably laugh and shrug it off like they did whenever she had a bad feeling about any world. But this time she really felt uneasy about the man. He and Remmy were walking just ahead of her, conversing on the music of this world, though he didn't seem to be very knowledgeable. They reached the laboratory. Within minutes, Quinn, the Professor, Ian and Rajesh were deep in discussion over something in a book in the lab. It was ironical; she thought with a little smile, that even the Professor's lab, on this world, was in his basement. Immersed in her thoughts, she didn't notice the glare Higgins shot her.

His fury mounted with every passing minute. Higgins ground his teeth in frustration, and attempted to make it into a rather dreadful looking smile when he noticed Rembrandt looking at him curiously. Here he was, the man who had actually perfected that machine, forced to make small talk with an ignorant black fellow while that old clod Max got all the credit. He didn't want to make small talk with this man; but for his plan to work, he needed to keep up pretences, that included behaving like an assistant would. And behave nicely to their 'guests'. The other two were inspecting the machine in the centre of the room. Obviously they were the brains in this group. He had been in a fix when he had heard what was going on, who these people were. But after a hurried call, he knew what he had to do. No one could ever find out the truth. And with these sliders here, he could not take a chance that they would fix the machine. He was a little edgy, which he couldn't afford to be if his plan was to go smoothly. It had always made him uneasy to come here, where he had killed Max, but to come here with a man looking just like him was too much.

Quinn and the Professor were reading through some of Max's notes when Quinn suddenly noticed something. "Hey! I think some pages are missing here." That sentence drew everyone's attention. Ian and Rajesh gathered around Quinn as he pointed out what he found. "I always wondered… it seemed so weird, that he seemed to be so close to the answer and then all his experimental results not matching with expected ones, somebody has tampered with the notes!" Ian exclaimed, "This may be the break I've been looking for! If this is why the machine didn't work, with your help I can fix it, and maybe find my uncle! Higgins can help us too, he's worked before with uncle Max." He whirled around to talk to Higgins. But Higgins wasn't there. "Where is Higgins?" asked Rajesh in surprise to Wade. "Wasn't he just in front you?" "Oh, he just went out for a breath of fresh air."


	4. The Secret: Part VI

**The Secret**

**PART VI:**

Just then the sound of a door slamming had everyone turning to face the door. Higgins stood there, with an eerie smile on his face. There was someone else also behind him, some one burly and large. He was wearing a hat like thing on his head, which was pulled low so as to cover most of his face. "Who is that?" asked Ian in surprise. "No one is to come here, I told you that!" Higgins walked forward to them, still saying nothing. Then suddenly he pulled out his hand from his pocket, holding a gun. Every person in the room froze in shock at the sight of it. "What are you doing? Higgins, have you lost your mind? Put that down!" Rajesh cried out. It only served to infuriate Higgins more. "You, SHUT UP! I've been waiting for this for the last six months! No one is going to stop me now!" He made all of them stand against the wall, facing him, with their hands in the air. He came over to Quinn, all the while holding the gun to the others. "Give me your sliding device." When Quinn hesitated, he shouted out. "Give it to me, or I'll blow your head off!" He took Quinn's timer and placed it on a table at the other end of the room, and set another gadget, which looked similar to the timer, next to it. Ian exclaimed in anger, "You stole that from the storage unit! What do you want with that, and with us?" Higgins didn't reply, he just fiddled with machine which occupied most of the space in the room. The other man replied for him. He had a well modulated voice, sounded sophisticated, but there was an underlying tone of steel. "We've already got what we wanted, those." he was indicating the two timers. "Now all that remains is to dispose of you, and Higgins here has a superb idea. Similar to the way he disposed of the late Maximillian Arturo." He looked at the Professor. "It is amazing, I've gone on many trips now but never encountered you, I mean your _doubles."_ He glanced around at the room, looking at the various equipment there. It was nothing like Quinn's basement. The sliding machine occupied most of the room, it was large, block-like and consisted of a mass of wires and spiral coils all over. The centre was a dome made of glass like material, and below it was a triangular arrangement of three tubes, at the core of the machine. He smiled a little, at least he seemed to, one could not really make out because of his hat. Addressing Higgins, he said, "I trust you will take care of this?" With this he walked out, taking the timers with him.

Higgins had said nothing up till now. He then said in a low voice so they had to strain their ears to hear him, almost conversationally, he told Ian, "Here's something for you to think about… your uncle, he did discover that one could travel between parallel dimensions. But did you know who invented this machine? I did!" At Ian's look of shock he laughed. "Don't believe me? Well it's true! Your uncle did most of the work at first, I'll concede that. But who worked out the kinks when he was stuck? That's right, I did! In fact on that first trip, when he tested the machine, I went with him." He smiled. "Didn't know that did ya? Here's something else, the machine was never faulty. It was perfect. I made it perfect! And what did your uncle want to do? Oh old Max wanted to use for the good of mankind yada yada yada… never would listen to what I had to say. If he had, none of you would be in this situation now." He gestured to the Professor. "Actually, if it weren't for you and your friends, this needn't have happened. But I couldn't just sit and let you fix this machine, could I? Not after the time I spent on making it NOT work! So I speeded up my plans a little. You would have, in time, forgotten all about the machine, and I would have quit this job and gone to spend my big bucks on some exotic islands in the Caribbean or somewhere else. But now, I've got to get rid of you first." He took out some piece of metal from his pocket. He stood up, brandishing the gun at them again. "You want to know why the machine never worked? I'll tell you why." Saying this, Higgins leaned against the machine itself and tapped the tip of the gun against his chin, as if he were thinking about what he was going to say. "You see this part here," indicating the piece of metal in his hand. "It's the most important piece of that contraption. Without it, nothing works! It fits right at the core, beneath that fibre glass, under the three tubes. The day I killed your uncle, I took it. Along with most of his notes...I even cleaned up that day. Couldn't leave blood splattered on the floor…"

Ian couldn't keep quiet any longer. "Why? Why did you do this? Why…." His voice trailed off in anguish. Again Higgins just smiled. "Oh, so that the machine wouldn't work, of course! What did you think?" his smile grew wider. It was as if he was enjoying himself more and more as time passed, as if he were relishing the thought of seeing them grovel before he killed them. His smile looked frightening, as did his posture. Waving the gun a little, he said, "That's probably not the answer you are looking for, is it? I did for the money. You perhaps know Stephen Kingston, the billionaire magnate. Telling you that now makes no difference, you will not be able to tell anybody. The man you just saw was him." At the sliders' look of puzzlement he said, "You would definitely not know him. He was already quite rich and powerful before, but suddenly a few months back, he became a billionaire. What no one in this room knows is that he had approached you uncle and me when we were working on this, wanted us to sell it to us, or work for him, at a generous salary naturally. I would have agreed, if it weren't for your uncle. He was adamant. 'The inter-dimensional device would be used only for good' he said. But Stephen offered us a very large sum of money for it. And even some shares of his company. But your uncle, predictably, refused. So Kingston employed me, to take bring the machine to him. Or build a new one for him. For that I needed Max's help. I spun him a cock-and-bull story and he bought it. After we built it I simply took it and gave it to Kingston. I wouldn't say steal, after all I helped build it too. However I had to kill Max for it, he would have under no circumstances let me get away with it. I killed him here, in this very lab and threw his body into the gateway………. it must have landed in some other world. It's quite an effective way to dispose of a body, don't you think?" he directed the last part of the question at the Professor. "You gave me quite a shock. But just when I realised that you weren't who I thought you were, I had a bigger problem on my hands. I consulted Kingston, and he has promised me a very good remuneration if I get rid of you all and give him your device too. So I am going to kill you all and do away with of your bodies the same way I did Max's. Everyone will assume that you all disappeared in an accident. Just like Max."


	5. The Secret: Part VII and VIII

**The Secret**

**PART VII:**

Rajesh was shocked and dumbfounded. He had only to look at Ian's face to see that he was hurting. He might try to put on a brave face but his emotions were clear to his friend. Rajesh had never known that Higgins had worked so closely with Ian's uncle, and from Ian's reaction to Higgins explanation, neither had he. He felt a surge of anger on his friend's behalf. He had always felt that Higgins was not trustworthy but had kept him on because Ian had wanted it. He looked over at Higgins again. He noticed that Higgins was bending over to fit that 'crucial' piece somewhere in the bottom of the machine. Though the gun was still in his hand, he was not paying them any attention. This was his chance. He nudged Ian, standing next to him, with his arm. And with a jerk of his head at Higgins, signalled to him what he had on his mind. "You take the gun," he mouthed. Ian got the message. At the other end of the wall, Quinn noticed that Rajesh was up to something and silently pointed it out to Remmy who stood next to him. He nodded in acknowledgement. Just as Rajesh and Ian were about to make their move, the basement door unexpectedly swung open. Everyone immediately turned around. The stocky figure standing there could be none other than Stephen Kingston. "I want to see this, how the original machine works." he told Higgins. The reply he got was only a grunt. After a moment Higgins turned around with a growl of frustration. "This isn't fitting in properly!" Kingston had taken a position against the wall where he could keep an eye on Higgins as well as the captives. He pointed to Wade. "You are small enough to crawl under and fit it in. Do it. Now!" Wade looked at him in apprehension and went forward to do as he said. As she bent under the mass of wires and pushed them out of the way, Higgins described to her how exactly she was to fit in the hexagonal piece. She suddenly gave a yelp of pain. She had pricked her finger on something. Kingston, who had been watching the sliders, was distracted. He turned towards the machine, walked a few steps toward it. Rajesh moved away from the wall slowly, not wanting to make any sudden moves to attract his attention. Ian followed and Quinn seeing him did the same from his end of the wall. They had a plan in their mind, Rajesh and Ian would jump Kingston and Quinn and Remmy would get Higgins. But they had to get rid of Higgins' gun first. With a two to one ratio they had a very good chance against their captors. But Kingston was only momentarily distracted. He saw their reflections in the dull metal of the machine and turned around. In a flash he had taken out a gun and was aiming at Rajesh and Ian. Quinn decided to take a chance and lunged at Higgins, going for the gun in his hand, Higgins was taken by surprise but still managed to retain a strong hold on the gun. There ensued a furious struggle. Kingston whirled around and tried to fire at Quinn, but Ian grabbed his hand and twisted it upward. He and Kingston fell to the ground when suddenly a shot rang out. There was absolute silence after the loud bang. Rajesh ran to the huddle on the floor, but Kingston stuck his leg out and tripped him. Rajesh fell on his face near Ian, and something wet seeped through his shirt. He looked in shock at the red stain on his chest. He didn't feel any pain, didn't think he had been hit. Then he looked at Ian lying on the floor and realised in horror that the blood came from him, a large pool was rapidly forming.

Wade had seen the pairs of feet approaching and as soon as Higgins turned around, rolled out from underneath and ran out to the side. When Kingston had fallen to the ground, one of the timers had fallen out of his coat and lay on the floor. She grabbed it and sprinted to the side. Higgins tried to fight Quinn, who had twisted his arm behind his back. Remmy kicked Kingston's gun away from where it lay on the ground and before he could get up and knocked him down again with a blow to the jaw when Kingston tried to rise once again. This time he sat down firmly on the man, trapping him under his somewhat considerable bulk.

Wade had just seen the blood and she was appalled. She saw the Professor come to help Rajesh with the wounded man, and Quinn struggling with Higgins. The professor called out to her. "Get help, now hurry, he's losing a lot of blood." She ran out of the basement, and rushed towards the library from where they had come. She was sure that she had seen a telephone there. She prayed as she ran, hoping that the number for the emergency service was 911 on this world too.

Quinn twisted Higgins's arm upwards, and tried to get him to drop the gun, but before he dropped it, one shot was fired. It didn't hit anyone, instead hit a light bulb above them, which burst with a loud noise.

Wade had just made her way up the stairs to the living room when she heard the gun shot. He heart jumped to her throat as she stopped in her tracks. Right after that came one more loud sound, like a small explosion. She stood for a moment, horrified, and then ran ahead with her heart thumping. There was nothing she could do even if she went back; hopefully no one had been hit. Her only hope was the police and an ambulance. She reached the library panting. She hadn't realised that it was at the other end of the house when they had come here. Skidding to a stop in front of the white instrument, she hurriedly lifted the receiver and punched in the numbers. To her relief the voice on other side said, "911, Emergency."

Higgins struggled in Quinn's grip, but to no avail. The other man was too strong for him, especially as his hands were twisted behind his back. . The professor found some rope lying on the side and was now helping Remmy tie up Kingston. Soon, both Kingston as well as Higgins were trussed up tight. Quinn left to see if Wade had called for an ambulance. The Professor and Rajesh were supporting Ian, who lay on the ground, his face white as a sheet, but still conscious. Rajesh looked anxiously at the door, waiting for help to arrive. If they didn't come soon, there was no telling what could happen. As it was, Ian had already lost a lot of blood. The bullet was embedded in his shoulder, but he couldn't tell if it had damaged any nerve or major blood vessel. He saw that Ian had a tight grip on the Professor's hand, refusing to let it go. Quinn climbed out of the basement in time to hear the wail of sirens as police cars and ambulances drew up at the door. He and Wade lead two attendants carrying a stretcher to the basement with the police right behind them.

**PART VIII:**

The sliders had been treated to a sumptuous lunch the next day, courtesy Rajesh. They were to slide right after and had decided to do it from Ian's hospital room, at his request. He had wanted to see what a vortex looked like. The bullet had not harmed anything major and he was on the road to recovery. Earlier that morning, Rajesh and Quinn and the Professor had worked on the sliding machine and with help from the Arturo of this world's recovered notes, had been able to figure out how it worked, using the piece that Higgins had had with him. It turned out to be a microchip of some kind. But, Ian and Rajesh had decided to put away the machine, at least for now, seeing the furore it had caused. "The world doesn't seem ready for it, not with men out there who want it for their own purposes." The police had arrested Higgins as well as Stephen Kingston. Ian had accepted that his uncle was dead, the last bit of hope extinguished after the confession Higgins made. Higgins had told everything to the police, as well as agreed to testify against Stephen Kingston.

The sliders filed into Ian's room silently, followed by Rajesh. He smiled and said in a stage whisper, "I know this is not visiting hours, but I've got connections." Ian had been reading a magazine. He shut it, motioning for them to close the blinds of the room and then shook hands with each of them in turn and gave Wade a hug, thanking her for calling the ambulance in time. He then turned at last to the Professor. "I will always remember this time," he said gravely. "I feel like I got a chance to say goodbye to my uncle, properly. Thank you for this..." The Professor reached down to envelop the man in a warm hug, surprising everyone there. He had never done anything like this before. Usually he was quite reserved. He broke away from the embrace with a slightly uncomfortable smile. The timer beeped from Quinn's pocket. It was time for them to leave. "Watch out!" Saying this he pointed the timer at the corner of the room and activated it. A shimmering and sparkling blue and white vortex appeared. Ian and Rajesh looked at it wonder and amazement even as a bunch of papers on the bedside table flew all over the place. "It's beautiful! Thank you, thank you so much for giving us a glimpse of this. I really can't express what I feel right now……" Ian said. "Maybe one day we'll meet you again, if we ever decide to travel through parallel worlds." The sliders waved farewell and leaped into the vortex one by one, Remmy the last of all, saying "See you then…" The gateway between worlds decreased in size, till it finally disappeared.


End file.
